Rand Paul Flip-Flops on Border Fence

The Kentucky politics blog Barefoot and Progressive has identified a change in Rand Paul’s stance on a border fence. He used to liken a barrier with Mexico as similar to “the Berlin Wall.” Now he supports erecting one:

Rand Paul in 2009:

“I don’t like the symbolism of a 15-foot fence going the whole border,” he said at the time. “Extraordinarily expensive. But it reminds me of the Berlin Wall which was built to keep people in and from fleeing to the West.

Rand Paul yesterday:

“We must build a fence across our southern border. It can be a physical fence, or an electronic fence or a combination. I believe the reality is the electronic fence will work better and be cheaper. But I will vote for any method to put a real obstacle at our border.”

5 Comments so far ↓

The “electronic fence” is a scam. It allows foot-dragging in the form of years wasted on glacially-slow technology evaluation, R&D, and procurement, while millions of illegals continue to pour in, changing the nation’s demographics. When it is finally put up, what will it do? Show some ambiguous data, or a fuzzy image, of people crossing our border, who will be long, long gone, melted into our interior, when or IF the Border Patrol eventually shows up.

The point of a real physical fence is to KEEP PEOPLE OUT, not helplessly observe them as they cross our border without our permission and impose their will on us.

The analogy of a Berlin Wall is offensive. East Germany was a giant prison that sought to keep its own people from leaving, from escaping to freedom. By contrast our border fence does not seek to hem in Americans, but to secure us from outsiders who seek to enter our land against our will.

So many of these Tea Bag folks are certainly running from their former positions now that they have to get votes from more than the extreme factions of their Party – Angle even wiped her real views from her website.

Its one thing to run to the center – its another to just so quickly abandon core beliefs and statements.

Technically, Rand Paul can dislike the symbolism of an expensive fence that reminds him of the Berlin Wall, and yet still be in favor of it if he has come to the conclusion that a fence is essential to resolving the illegal immigration problem. He could have easily come to that conclusion in the time between making those two statements.

To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”

Like most other aspects of today’s political discourse, the eagerness to yell “flip-flop” harms the candidates that we claim to desire most: candidates who speak honestly and are open to other ideas and opinions.